The Highlander’s Promise, page 42
The Highlander’s Promise
Highland Rogues, Book 4
Mary Wine
© Copyright 2021 by Mary Wine
Text by Mary Wine
Cover by Wicked Smart Designs
Dragonblade Publishing, Inc. is an imprint of Kathryn Le Veque Novels, Inc.
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Produced in the United States of America
First Edition July 2021
EPUB Edition
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The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
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Additional Dragonblade books by Author Mary Wine
Highland Rogues Series
The Highlander’s Demand
The Highlander’s Destiny
The Highlander’s Captive
The Highlander’s Promise
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Publisher’s Note
Additional Dragonblade books by Author Mary Wine
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Epilogue
About the Author
Chapter One
Duncan land…
Terin Campbell sat up in her bed.
The chamber was still and quiet. Her bedding was clean, and there was the lingering scent of rosemary clinging to it. The staff was doing their best to gain her favor now that her mother-in-law, Benedicta, was no longer their main focus and making it clear that her daughter-in-law wouldn’t ever be the mistress of the stronghold.
Terin didn’t belong there any longer now that her husband was dead.
It was a feeling she was very used to. She’d expected it to fade in the first year of her marriage, but it never had. Benedicta and her sons had seen to that. Could she have fought harder to make a position for herself? Yes. Of course, she’d needed a son to do it, and she’d just never been quite able to make herself grovel to Goron the way he’d insisted she do to get into his bed. There were plenty of people who would tell her she’d squandered her opportunity to be the lady of the house. If she had a son, she’d have a position. Somehow, Terin just couldn’t lament her choice.
Was it so wrong to think a child should be born into a happy home? Just because she was born the daughter of a laird, did it mean her future was to be one riddled with scheming and power plays?
Well, you have spent four years pondering the matter…
She had. Terin stood and walked over to the window. She opened the shutters and looked out into the yard. Night was losing its grip. The sky was brightening as the stars began to disappear. Still, the first birds had yet to sing.
She felt like those birds. Nestled into her bed while waiting for the morning sun to awaken her.
She was so tired of waiting.
She was sick of waiting. It felt like poison in her veins. Either she fought it off, or it would kill her in the worst possible way.
Slowly. Allowing her to notice every drop of her life dripping away.
No …fortune favored the bold.
Terin turned around and walked to the wardrobe. Inside, there was a spare length of wool. Some maid had placed it there in case Goron ever passed the night with her and needed a clean kilt. It was an extravagance to have a length of wool going unused. But Goron had expected such luxury.
So perhaps she would make use of it. Perhaps it was past time to see it going to use, to see herself having a purpose.
What are you doing?
Terin wasn’t precisely sure, but once she began, there was no stopping herself. She pleated up the wool on the floor and then went back to the wardrobe in search of a shirt. It was too large on her, but she moved the buttons on the cuffs so they would close tightly around her wrists.
She lay down on the wool and used her own belt to secure it around her waist. When she turned to look in the mirror, she saw a lanky lad, if she discounted her waist-long hair. Her legs hadn’t been on display in a decade since she became too old to run wild with her brothers. If the Church discovered her dressed like a man, there would be dire consequences, but that didn’t dissuade her.
She’d done all the things she should.
Now, she was going to do the things she dared.
Determination flared through her. Terin reached for her sewing scissors and hacked off a foot of her hair. She tied a section back from her eyes and tugged a bonnet down over her forehead. The last thing she did was press her fingertips into the soot at the edge of the hearth. She smeared the black ashes on her face to disguise how soft her skin was. A quick look in her mirror showed her a grubby youth. Or at least, it might hold up if she kept her head down and her mouth shut. She gathered up the money she’d hidden around the chamber in case she needed to escape. It wasn’t much, but she wouldn’t starve so long as she wasn’t too picky.
The first bird sang as she walked out of the stronghold.
Terin smiled. The truest, most genuine smile she’d experienced in four years.
*
The seasons didn’t answer to any person’s whim. Terin tugged the section of her kilt that she’d left attached to her shoulder up and over her head. The rain had turned to slush as she traveled. Now it was snow. The wind blew so hard, the white puffs were going nearly sideways. But it hit the ground at some point and stuck.
Chattan land was still so far away.
And over rough land.
Her belly tried to constrict, but she ordered herself not to give in to fear. She’d made her choice. Now, Duncan land was further away than Chattan land. She would simply have to push on.
Terin stared at the white fluffs of snow, doing her best to scrounge up her resolve. It actually didn’t take too much effort. Yes, her knees were cold, well freezing, but she didn’t have to worry that the next meal she sat down to consume would be laced with poison.
Lord, she’d eaten so many hard-boiled eggs in the last four years because she could gather them herself and boil them in the small kettle in her chamber.
You’re alive…
She was, and all the members of her husband’s family who had wished her an early death were victims of their own schemes now.
Her father would expect her to come home.
Terin wrestled with the anger the thought of her home brought her. Logically, she understood that being the laird’s daughter meant her marriage would be arranged. Her education had been carefully directed so she would be ready to manage a large household. She had not expected love, of course, but respect shouldn’t have been too much to hope for.
Her husband had been a monster.
Even the blowing snow wasn’t cool enough to combat her temper.
Well, good then, because ye have a long walk ahead of ye still…yer temper can keep ye warm.
Her belly rumbled. She couldn’t indulge in a horse because it would attract attention to her. One lone youth in ill-fitting clothing would be cause for notice. So she’d walked or bartered for a spot on a wagon as she could.
Now though, all the wagons were heading for shelter. Their drivers hurrying to secure stable space for their horses before there wasn’t any more to be had.
She needed to hurry, too.
Terin squared her shoulders and headed across the road toward a public house. It was less than a decent place. As she ducked beneath the doorway, she heard the squeal of several women. Inside the dim interior, there were a collection of mismatched tables. Their tops were scarred and stained, a few of them charred from fire.
“Here now.” A man pointed at her. “It’s a penny to come in.”
Of course it was. Shelter wasn’t fr
“As if ye’d have enough to rent a room,” the owner laughed at her while stuffing the penny into his doublet. “Ye’ll take that bench in the corner and be grateful.”
Terin ducked her chin. She’d not moved the buttons on the collar of the shirt, instead leaving it too wide for her neck because she might duck her chin into it and hide how smooth her skin was. Besides the sin of dressing like a man, a lone female might run into men who had no morals.
It was the very first time she’d ever been alone.
In a way, she discovered the experience to be something interesting. As she went to the bench and sat down, she was able to be overlooked by everyone in the place. It wouldn’t last too long, though, for the owner would be looking to sell her food and drink and perhaps the serving women as they went around the room so that all the men could get a look.
Her bench was the furthest from the fire.
Terin suddenly realized she was sitting straight up. Just as she’d been taught, but she needed to blend in. She slouched, glancing around the room to see how the other men sat. After a moment, she put her elbows on the table and even rested the side of her face in one of her hands.
*
Jasper Chattan wasn’t one to stop because of a bit of snow.
All right, it was a fair bit of snow.
He knew how many days he had yet to ride before he’d make it home, and the clouds were getting lower and lower, pressing down on them so that he couldn’t see more than ten paces in front of him.
Aye, maybe he might have pressed on, but he looked back to where his sister was clinging to the back of a horse. Kianna was barely sixteen. She was half his size, but she’d not muttered a word of protest over the conditions.
Aye, she was pure Chattan.
Strong and stubborn.
He’d have to recall that his mother would skin him alive if Kianna caught a fever because Jasper had insisted on riding home through a snowstorm.
His mother was pure Gordon. While his father would argue that Chattans were tougher, Jasper would have to side with his mother in saying that any woman who could marry a Chattan and make the union work, as she had for the last twenty-eight years, was far more resilient.
Besides, it was far more enjoyable to watch his mother take aim at his father or one of his other brothers than it was to have her ire directed at him. Kianna was his only sister. Jasper had been tasked with taking her to her wedding while their mother was away. Something Jasper would bet his father was regretting just about now. Sorcha Gordon wouldn’t much care if her husband felt he’d needed to settle an old debt by marrying off their daughter, especially when Kianna was too young.
Aye, well, Jasper had obeyed his father and managed to retrieve his sister, as well. All he had to do was get Kianna home in one piece and in good health.
So, he pulled up on the reins and looked around to see what was to be had in the way of lodgings.
It was slim pickings, to be certain.
The small village had grown up at a crossroads. MacPhersons and Grants made use of the area as they traded. There might be lowlanders, as well, or even some of the Highlanders from further up near Sutherland. There were mostly warehouses. Large stables with blacksmith shops set up alongside. He could see several houses of pleasure as well, but those certainly would not do.
Jasper settled his attention on a public house. It was less than acceptable, to be sure, but there was nothing else.
Jasper whistled. His captain, Leith, looked his way.
“Find some shelter for the horses,” Jasper instructed him.
“Aye,” Leith replied.
Jasper dismounted and went toward his sister. Kianna made a little sound as she slid off the horse. He caught her when her knees didn’t quite hold her.
“Let’s find some warm supper, Kianna,” Jasper encouraged her.
“Yes,” she responded.
She was just sixteen but had already begun to master the composure of a lady. Jasper could feel her trembling, but her tone didn’t give it away. She straightened up after a moment and sent him a composed little smile.
Two of his Retainers went in front of them. They pushed through the front door of the public house.
“It’s a penny a piece to come inside,” the landlord shouted.
*
The squealing of the women was beginning to get on Terin’s nerves.
The bowl of stew she’d paid far too much for wasn’t sitting on her stomach very well. The small section of bread she’d been given wasn’t helping in the least.
And the squealing continued.
What was it about fornication that made women squeal?
Terin honestly didn’t understand it.
Well, ye’re a virgin…
Still, as she lifted her face to sneak a glance at one of the women who was sitting on a man’s lap and smiling at him, Terin just couldn’t seem to understand why the woman’s eyes sparkled. It was one thing to maintain a pleasant expression, but Terin had never quite been able to make her eyes sparkle upon demand. For sure, she could force a smile even when on the verge of tears, but the sparkle in the eyes was just beyond her reach.
So, the woman must be enjoying herself.
That was the part that had Terin perplexed.
All right, and curious.
Someone else came through the door.
“It’s a penny a piece to come inside!” the landlord cried out immediately.
The noise in the common room suddenly died down. The reason was clear. These men were Retainers. They had a harder look to them, and their clothing was neat because they represented the laird they wore the colors for. Each of them was looking both ways, getting a clear look at every person in the room. It was something they would have trained for since they were only ten. Now that they were men, they were truly a notch above the other men in the room. Truly the elite among Highlanders.
And they had earned everything they had through hard training and loyalty. Their kilts were finer than the rest of the Chattan clan might own. The dyes richer, deeper, and more brilliant. The wool itself was the highest grade of cloth to be had, and each kilt was a privilege to wear. A mark of the position they’d likely persevered through difficult times to be awarded the right to wear.
But the man who came behind them was even more awe-inspiring. He had to duck beneath the top of the doorway. Once he straightened up, Terin felt her eyes round as she took in his towering height. And he had brawn to go with it. He had a head of midnight-black hair and a close-trimmed beard. His colors declared him a Chattan, and the two feathers sticking up in his cap said he had a high position in the clan. He might be the war chief or one of Laird Chattan’s sons.
The landlord snapped his mouth like a fresh-caught trout. His eyes widened until they bulged.
“I am Jasper Chattan,” the man introduced himself. He looked around the room, making eye contact with many of the patrons. “Please forgive me, but I have me sister along, so I’ll be asking ye all kindly to mind yer tongues.”
More Retainers had been coming in as Jasper spoke. There were a few grumbles from the more intoxicated patrons. They quickly became the target of those Chattan Retainers.
“However,” Jasper turned toward the landlord, “I will be most happy to rent a room abovestairs where me sister will no’ be a bother to anyone.”
“Aye.” The landlord suddenly found his tongue. He held his hand up in the air. “I’ll be needing a wee bit to get the sheets changed.”
One of the women snickered, making it clear why the bed linens would be in need of changing. Jasper turned to survey the rest of the room. His men proved their worth, as they seemed to know precisely what their master was thinking.
Jasper looked toward the side of the area where Terin sat. He suddenly offered everyone sitting there a friendly grin as he reached up to tug on the corner of his cap.
“Sorry to trouble ye all,” Jasper said.
His Retainers closed in, making it clear they wanted the section of room cleared for them to sit together. Terin stood along with the two men sitting near her. The landlord had crowded as many benches as possible inside the common room that he could, so moving was a tricky business. Terin hit her shin and caught the corner of a table with her hip as the others around her made a dash away from the glowering Chattan Retainers.
